Witch Winnie's Mystery, or The Old Oak Cabinet Part 28

Mrs. Armstrong also hesitated when Ricos presented himself, but Jim heard his voice and called him eagerly.

"Ricos! Ricos! is it really you? Oh, I'm so glad!"

"Of a surety, it is I," Ricos replied. "I have come to ask your forgiveness. Alas! I am one miserable."

"I will forgive you, Ricos, if you will tell Colonel Grey all about it, so that Terwilliger need not go to prison. You know they have arrested him, and really it is he and Stacey who ought to forgive you, and not I at all."

"I do not comprehend of what you refer. I ask you to forgive me for your hurt----"

"But that is nothing! I am sorry that I beat you, Ricos. I wanted to win awfully, but I know now that you wanted the medal a great deal more than I did, and I'm so sorry Stacey did not run the best. Mother read me a verse that seemed just to be written for our games. I read it to Stacey and he said it would help him. Mother, please read it to Ricos, perhaps it will help him, too."

And Mrs. Armstrong read:

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.

Ricos looked still more frightened. The Bible to him was a book only for priests. Jim must certainly be at the point of death, or he would not ask to have it read; but Jim spoke up earnestly:

"I suppose, Ricos, that waiting on the Lord means doing our whole duty, and I want you to do something for my sake. I want you to tell that you went to the girl's Cat-combing party. You know you went, Ricos. We are all sure of it, but n.o.body can prove it. Please tell Colonel Grey. It would be such a n.o.ble thing to do."

"And you will make me a.s.surance of your forgiveness?"

"With all my heart, and I will stick up for you with all the boys."

"Thank you, my friend; now I shall enjoy some comfort of the mind. And you will tell those in Paradise that Ricos is not so devil as they may have heard."

Jim looked puzzled. He did not quite understand that Ricos's motive was fear of retribution. He thought that Jim was going to die, and he felt himself in a measure responsible for his death; but Jim's forgiveness and promise of intercession in his behalf was a boon to be purchased at any price, and he readily promised to disclose everything. Jim fell back upon his pillow, exhausted but happy, and fell asleep for the first time in many hours.

Ricos hurried back to the barracks. He had no scruples about implicating b.u.t.tertub in his confession, and he would have gone to Colonel Grey without consulting his friend had b.u.t.tertub not been on the lookout for him. They were each relieved to find that they had come separately to similar conclusions, and they sought Colonel Grey together.

They were obliged to wait some time, for their instructor was closeted with Mr. Mudge.

"I am just going out with this gentleman," said Colonel Grey, as he noticed them standing in the hall. "Is it anything which cannot wait?"

"It is of needcessity," said Ricos, and then his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, and b.u.t.tertub made the confession for both.

"Your acknowledgment of your fault comes just in time," said Colonel Grey. "Make your statement once more to this gentleman, and it may save an innocent cla.s.smate from disgrace, and our unfortunate Terwilliger from unjust imprisonment."

"You shall imprison me," said Ricos, in a theatrical manner. "That will make me one supreme happiness."

b.u.t.tertub turned pale, but did not falter, and told the story frankly and simply.

"So you are the two gentlemen who introduced yourselves in disguise into a young ladies' boarding-school," said Mr. Mudge. "Will you tell me how you made the acquaintance of Terwilliger's sister, the young lady they call Lawn Tennis, who gave you admittance."

"But it was not Terwilliger's sister at all. Miss Vaughn threw us out the key to the turret door," said b.u.t.tertub.

"A reliable witness to the affair a.s.sures me that it was Lawn Tennis.

She was recognized partly by a Tam O'Shanter cap which she is in the habit of wearing."

"Miss Vaughn wore a Tam O'Shanter when she looked out of the window. She had it pulled down over her forehead."

"In view of these disclosures," Mr. Mudge said to Colonel Grey, "I shall withdraw my prosecution of Terwilliger. I have not sufficient evidence to make out a case against him, since it is now shown that the other young gentleman, Mr. Fitz Simmons, did not visit the school on the night in question, and consequently had no motive for testifying falsely. I think any court would admit him as a competent witness in Terwilliger's behalf, and consider the _alibi_ established. There will be no trial of Terwilliger. I must confess myself completely at fault in this matter."

b.u.t.tertub drew a long breath. He felt dazed and sick. Ricos swayed from side to side, and sank into a chair. Colonel Grey was bowing Mr. Mudge out, and b.u.t.tertub poured a gla.s.s of water and handed it to Ricos in his absence. "Don't give in yet," he said; "we've fixed it all right for Fitz Simmons and Terwilliger, but we've got to face the music now on our own account."

But Ricos had gone to the extent of his capabilities, and had fainted dead away. Colonel Grey returned and a.s.sisted b.u.t.tertub in restoring him to consciousness. His first words were, "When is it that we go to the prison?"

"My dear boy," said the Colonel, "you were not suspected of any connection with the robbery. But if you imagined that you would be, and made the avowal which you did in the face of that apprehension, you deserve all the more credit."

"Shall we not be expelled, sir?" b.u.t.tertub asked.

"Never! My school has need of young men who can acknowledge a fault so honourably. I consider that your generous conduct has wiped the misdemeanour from existence. You have suffered sufficiently, and I have no fear that such a thing will ever occur again. I shall only ask you to make this acknowledgment complete by sending Madame ---- a written apology for intruding in so unwarrantable a manner upon her school. I shall call upon her personally and deliver it."

"And my father will not feel that I have disgraced him," b.u.t.tertub said slowly, unconscious that he was speaking aloud.

"I shall tell the Bishop," said Colonel Grey, "that he has a son to be proud of."

Ricos staggered off to bed, and b.u.t.tertub sought Stacey and reported.

"You are a trump!" Stacey cried, "I never realized before what a hero you are. I beg your pardon for every unkind thing I have thought or said about you, and if you will accept my friendship it's yours forever. It is time for supper now, and after that we'll find Terwilliger and tell him the news."

Jim improved rapidly after this. If Ricos had known that he would recover he might not have confessed, and there was a lingering feeling in his mind that Jim had no right to get well, and was taking a mean advantage of him in not fulfilling his part of the bargain and winging his way to Paradise, to tell the angels that Ricos was not such a bad fellow after all. Still, he never really regretted Jim's recovery or his own avowal. It cleared his conscience of a great load, and the boys, having heard that Ricos had made _amende honorable_, no longer complimented him with the terms "chump and mucker," but accepted his presents of guava jelly and other West India delicacies, and as he had the Spanish gift for guitar-playing, elected him to the banjo club.

A little after this Mrs. Roseveldt gave her last reception for that season. She had not forgotten the proposed plan of the tennis tournament at Narragansett Pier, and she invited Stacey to come and talk it up with Milly.

In spite of his declaration of war against all womankind, Stacey accepted the invitation eagerly. Stacey was himself again, yet not quite his old giddy self. The disappointment and trouble which he had experienced had changed him for the better. He was less of a fop and more of a man, than when he tossed his baton so airily before his drum corps at the annual drill. But he was still something of an exquisite in dress. His father had given him permission to order a dress suit for the occasion of prize declamation, and Stacey besieged his tailor until he agreed to have it done in time for Mrs. Roseveldt's reception.

Milly went home the day before. We had all been invited, but had decided virtuously that we could not spare the time from our studies, while I had, as an additional reason, the knowledge that I had no costume suitable for such a grand society affair. Milly described it all afterward, and I enjoyed her description more than I would have cared for the party itself.

The mandolin club played softly in the dining-room bay-window, hidden by a bank of palms and ferns, and the lights glowed through rose-coloured shades. The supper-table, in honour of a riding club to which Mr. and Mrs. Roseveldt belonged, whose members were the guests of the evening, as far as possible suggested their favorite exercise. The table itself was horseshoe in shape; saddle-rock oysters, and tongue sandwiches were served. There was whipped cream, the ices were in the form of top-boots, saddles, jockey-hats, and riding whips, and the bonbonnieres were satin beaver hats.

Stacey appeared early in the evening. It was the first time that Milly had seen him in a dress suit, and Milly confided to me privately that he seemed to her to have suddenly grown several inches taller. He was very grave and dignified, not at all like the old rollicking, boyish Stacey with whom Milly was familiar. Milly, quite inexplicably to herself, felt a little awed by him and was at loss for a subject of conversation. She referred to the Inter-scholastic Games, and Stacey scowled so violently that Milly saw that this was an unfortunate beginning, and hastened to change the subject to that of the proposed tournament at Narragansett Pier. They were practically alone, for the parlor had been deserted by the onslaught on the supper table, and Stacey said confidentially:

"I'll tell you just how it is, Milly; I ought not to take part in that tournament."

"Oh, do!" pleaded Milly.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"I will if you say so. It shall be just as you say, for I'll do anything for you; but if I go into this thing I lose every last chance of pa.s.sing my examinations for Harvard. All the same, I'll do it if you want me to."

"No, no;" murmured Milly; "not at such a cost; but it can't be as bad as that. What do you mean?"

"I mean that I have made a precious fool of myself all winter. I have gone in for athletics at the expense of my studies, and I've failed in both; and now that the time is coming for my examinations it will be a tight squeeze if I pa.s.s. I made up my mind to reform after I extinguished myself at the games, and I've been cramming ever since.

Do you know what the boys call me now?"

"A regular dig, I suppose."

"No, that's obsolete. At Harvard a hard student is a 'grind,' and a very hard student is a 'long-haired grind.' Woodp.e.c.k.e.r is complimentary enough to call me a 'Sutherland Sister hair invigorator grind.'"